[mkurek]

Hey I'm not really sure if this is the right spot to post this, but I'm going to anyways.

I'm a part of a team that builds a car every year for a national competition known as the Chem-E Car competition. So what the Chem-E Car competition is, is a competition where teams have to build a small car that runs off a chemical process. Like a lead acid battery. For the actual competition though, a distance in meters and a random weight of water to carry are announced.

So as you can imagine, you have to find a way to stop your car. Last year we used an iodine clock solution with a light sensor and then timed how fast our car was and tried to gather enough data to be able to estimate it accurately.

This year however, we ordered an arduino and we would like to try to have a lot of it controlled by a computer. What we would like to do is find some sort of electronic injection motor that we can use to inject a certain amount of reactant into our iodine clock solution. Last year we used a syringe to shoot it in and then flipped the switch to start our motor. Rather inconsistent as you may imagine.

This isn't my only question however. We also need to use a new power source and a new timing mechanism or method of stopping the car, which must be controlled by a chemical process, or the cars power source can simply run out. Many teams did this using a hydrogen fuel cell and using either oxygen or hydrogen as a limiting reagent.  So do any of you know of any creative power sources? Anything from a battery to a steam engine like motor powered by vinegar and baking soda.

Also, any ideas for methods of stopping would be appreciated